As The
FT reports confirming our earlier comments:The award is a landmark not just for its size – 20 times the previous
record for an arbitration ruling.

The tribunal also found definitively
that Russia's pursuit of Yukos and its independently-minded main shareholder,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a decade ago was politically motivated.

Though Russia cannot appeal against the award, Moscow said it would
pursue all legal avenues for trying to get it "set aside".

Even if the ruling stands, shareholders face a tortuous battle trying
to enforce it. If Moscow refuses to pay, they must pursue Russian
sovereign commercial assets in the 150 countries that are party to the so-called
1958 New York Convention on enforcing arbitration awards.